What do YOU do for a living...

[VERN]

I am a Mechanical Engineer and do all I can to keep the lights on in NYC.

 

[FordNut]

I'm a Manufacturing Engineer for Philips Medical Systems, Cleveland (formerly Picker/Marconi). I currently support the patient transport and PET scanner transport system on the Gemini (combined CT and PET) systems.

I started about 19 years ago performing upgrades and installing MR (Magnetic Resonance) scanners. Then moved on to Technical Publications (hated that job), then to QA for the MR division, then into Manufacturing Engineering setting up and supporing the Linux workstation builds for the MR systems, then ending up in the PET division.

Cool, somebody else in my field. I worked at CTI/PETnet (purchased by Siemens last year) for 17 years on all aspects of PET Scanners, Cyclotrons, and Chemistry Modules. Moved on to a smaller company (customer) 4 years ago to support the Cyclotron/Chemistry side.

 

[Bluerauder]

Well...interesting thread indeed! ..... Bluerauder---my dad was C.O.E.; his final job while on active duty with the Army was to be the DE for Philly district. Retired in Jan 1990.

marauder307, It is a small world indeed !! I was assigned to the CoE Philadelphia District from 1980-1983. I was one of 5 "uniformed" officers there at the time including the DE and the Deputy. My duties there included being the Architect-Engineer (A-E) Contract Negotiator for all of the engineering, planning, environmental, marine design, and water resources contracts. While there, I was also introduced to the world of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and worked on the design and construction of the 400 foot fully automated sea-going hopper dredge -- MV Essayons. Was a terrific assignment.

My #1 son is also in the US Army Corps of Engineers as a Captain. He's now at Fort Benning, GA.

 

[SergntMac]

Great thread, just...Great! Thanks to all who have posted, I feel like I know y'all just a bit better.

Y'all who haven't checked in yet, what are you waiting for?

 

[SID210SA]

Union Boilermaker Local 433 Tampa FL for 10 years. I know what a millwright is...

Currently a Regional Sales Manager for a company that sells machinery that's used in Newspaper production.
My company sells a machine that inserts all the Circuit City ads, etc into your Sunday Newspaper, so think of me when they fall all over your living room floor next Sunday!
These machines sell for an average of 6 million dollars, I get salary plus commission, so I'm doing OK.
My territory consists of seven Mid-Atlantic states plus MI and IN, so I travel constantly. I love my job!
I try to hook up with MM.net members for lunch whenever I can while I'm traveling.

Great thread, lots of smart people here!

Were you here in San Antonio recently or currently.....I thought I had run into some one with cobra badges on their Marauder here. There were Fl. plates on the SB Marauder

 

[MM03MOK]

Great thread, just...Great! Thanks to all who have posted, I feel like I know y'all just a bit better.

Y'all who haven't checked in yet, what are you waiting for?

^^^ What Mac said! ^^^ All you Lurkers and Ghosts! Time to post. There are no silly questions or wrong answers here. Come join in on the fun. You know about us, let us get to know you. :2thumbs:

 

[Kelly]

Iam part of the 7% that keep the other 93% from living in caves.

Construction worker in the Natural gas industry, Forman of a pipeline crew, keeping Minnesotains from freezing. I install gas pipe into new neighborhoods and the smaller gas lines to the homes, currently on a special project replacing gas lines to houses that have out lived the install method.

 

[Sully008]

Hey all,

Been away for awhile. I work for a company called Embassy Graphics. We're a premedia company, basically we make sure the files that designers/graphic artist create work for the printers they go to. I've been here for 7 years, started in the "basement" and worked my way up from there.

In my previous life I worked for The Real Canadian Superstore as a Department Specialist in the Photo/Electronics dept.

 

[GreekGod]

A little help here...

marauder307, It is a small world indeed !! I was assigned to the CoE Philadelphia District from 1980-1983. I was one of 5 "uniformed" officers there at the time including the DE and the Deputy. My duties there included being the Architect-Engineer (A-E) Contract Negotiator for all of the engineering, planning, environmental, marine design, and water resources contracts. While there, I was also introduced to the world of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and worked on the design and construction of the 400 foot fully automated sea-going hopper dredge -- MV Essayons. Was a terrific assignment.

My #1 son is also in the US Army Corps of Engineers as a Captain. He's now at Fort Benning, GA.

It's nice reading all these posts but PLEASE help out the non-collage, non military, non government types and explain all the secret codes you are using. Military types seem to think everyone knows what E2, E3, E8 (coporal?sergant?) is. COE? DE? My head is spinning!

 

[spub]

Well, let's see. For the past 7 years I've owned a bar (never buy a bar). For 14 years before that I stayed at home and raised my three girls, which as it turns out is great training for owning a bar. I'ts babysitting drunks without having to change diapers. Well most of the time :beer: .

I think I'm the first bar owner here so far.

Kirt

 

[Agent M79]

I guess I am technically unemployed… at least until July 17th.

I was the IT Director for a large 3rd party wholesale central alarm monitoring station in NC. We monitored for more than 1,500 independent security installers representing more than 210,000 end-users.

I was responsible for the design, deployment, adds, changes, updates, etc. for highly fault-tolerant systems that had to operate 24/7/365. I was on-call for the same 24/7/365 period and weekends, wee a.m. hours, and vacation did nothing to modify those hours. During my time there, I was able to assemble a terrific staff, all of whom were smarter than me in their applied areas of expertise.

I am moving on to another 3rd party central alarm monitoring station in MD. They are a little less than half the size of my previous employer. I have moved up into operational management and given 20 years of experience with a heavy bend towards IT, this is the best position to leverage my experience and give me an opportunity to accomplish things I could not before. This will be my 3rd time with this type of business at this size so there are a lot of known mistakes to avoid and a lot of successful paths to follow. Time for a lot of hindsight to be turned into focused foresight.

 

[Bluerauder]

It's nice reading all these posts but PLEASE help out the non-collage, non military, non government types and explain all the secret codes you are using.

Sorry. Yeah, sometimes I forget about all the acronyms that we use in daily conversation. After nearly 38 years, it's a hard habit to break. I remember once my father overhead a conversation between me and a friend. Afterwards he came up and asked what language we were speaking.

The secret code:

CoE = Corps of Engineers
DE = District Engineer (the top Corps official in the district)
MV = Motor Vessel
GA = Georgia

 

[jimlam56]

Were you here in San Antonio recently or currently.....I thought I had run into some one with cobra badges on their Marauder here. There were Fl. plates on the SB Marauder

Wasn't me sir, although I bought my car from a gent in Houston.
Haven't been back in TX since I drove it home in November 2005.
By the way, the cobra badges were put on by the previous owner. I know it's not a Cobra motor, but I haven't had the heart to take them off yet...kinda like them and they sure attract attention...
Just feel kinda guilty with em on, livin' a lie.

 

[jimlam56]

Well, let's see. For the past 7 years I've owned a bar (never buy a bar). For 14 years before that I stayed at home and raised my three girls, which as it turns out is great training for owning a bar. I'ts babysitting drunks without having to change diapers. Well most of the time :beer: .

I think I'm the first bar owner here so far.

Kirt

Sounds like a great place for a MM gettogether!:beer: :beer: :beer:

 

[SergntMac]

During my time there, I was able to assemble a terrific staff, all of whom were smarter than me in their applied areas of expertise.

This is good management, just tie the specialists together as a team (and sometimes you really need real rope), and keep them focused on the goal. I cannot supervise my entire staff of 180 alone, I rely on team leaders. The guy who had the job before me, thought he could. That's why I got his job, and I hope the guy getting mine leaves a smooth running operation to run itself.

 

[BillyGman]

I'm caught between a rock and a hard place.

I live in a town of 1,500 people. We have one factory in town (Toyota blinker switch factory). The only people that still live here are High School drop-outs, un-wed teenage mothers, and unmotivated pot heads.

Six years ago I inherited my Dads farm. Since then, I can't drive through town without some idiot stepping in front of my car in hopes of a big money lawsuit. Or getting molested by scuzzy women in hopes of big money child support.

I've been unsuccessfully sued by my Dads ex-wife (my biological "Mother"!) and by my career-criminal half-brother. Due to threats, I record every incoming and out going phone call. I carry a small video camera with me at all times.

Once, I showed a friend my new pistol. He pulled it from my hands, claimed I pointed it at him, and had me arrested. I was found not guilty. Now his penniless A$$ is getting thoroughly sued as an example for rest of them.

I've had a Trial Strategist, and two Lawyers on the payroll for five years now with no end in sight.

My Job? I recently had to give up running this place. I rented it out.

Now I'm a full time Defendant/ Plaintiff/ Landlord/Property Manager/ Freelance Philosopher. Hours are good.

WOW!! I'm thoroughly shocked about all this^

After seeing the pics that you sent me of that vast and beautiful land that you own, I never would've guessed that the people in that area are such dirtballs! I guess I'd have to be super carefull if I ever went there to visit you like we talked about.

 

[BillyGman]

This is good management, just tie the specialists together as a team (and sometimes you really need real rope), and keep them focused on the goal. I cannot supervise my entire staff of 180 alone, I rely on team leaders. The guy who had the job before me, thought he could. That's why I got his job, and I hope the guy getting mine leaves a smooth running operation to run itself.

That sounds like a good plan, and I'm sure there are benefits to that approach. I guess the only possible drawback can be is that once your organization gets so big, then you can have the top dogs who make all the decisions so far removed from what actually goes on, that it all becomes so inefficient, that you wind up with one big bureaucracy(how's that for big words Marty? ).

That's how it is where I work. It's so big, and the guys who make the decisions about how the place gets run, and about what changes are implemented, are so far removed from what actually goes on in the manufacturing processes, that the place doesn't run anything close to smoothly, and lower management participates in a type of conspiracy to cover-up and hide what's really going on from middle and upper management lest they find out, and require lower management to actually do their job.

And as a mechanic, the times when I've sincerely tried to expose serious problems with some of the parts that I work on, I was looked at as an enemy of our company, and as a troublemaker, and nothing positive was accomplished by my action other than my conscience being clear by abstaining from being a part of things that are just plain wrong.

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to give you an example of what I was talking about.

 

[Marauderman]

I'm the Fire Safety Systems Coordinator for a Large Real Estate Property Management Co here in Charlotte. That all came about this way--

Hired from IBM in 1970 after being discharged from the Air Force Fire Department . IBM wanted me to coordinate their new construction of a new plant in Manassas,Va and be responsible for all training and inspection and testing of equipment and personnel. This lasted for nine years--In 1979 , IBM wanted me to do it once again in Charlotte--So I transferred and did it again and coordinated the large new construction of their next plant in Charlotte --all the fire protection in 2 million Sq. feet of buildings , all tied together under one roof--and about 1500 acreas of land. I eventually retired in 2000 with 30 years service.

IBM sold all this property in 2000 and the new owners have re-hired me to continue to care for all the fire systems--This has been repeated (property
being sold) now three time--Currently going thru it again---Each time I can be replaced--But since I put it all in--, including a new computer fire system in 1999, well....so I am facing another situation of not knowing if I will have a job later on this year--we will see---I have been at this facility for 27 years...and have additionally taken on propertys off campus doing the same thing for the propert management for this campus.... so thats it in the short version---- Tom

 

[Dr Caleb]

My former job was Manager of Information Services for a (former, now bankrupt) company heavily involved in and part owners of the Edmontion Oilers.

Now I'm a contractor for IBM, working with the local provincial government installing IBM Blades, Storage Area Networks and maintaining thier back end of ~500 (actual) servers.

I work for IBM as a Top Gun.......... really.... I get to fix System X servers when the local field SSR's and our various helpdesks can't.

I knew somebody else on MM.net had to work here! If you get Bunny Ladies' excel file, look me up on Blue Pages. Just for sh1ts and giggles.

 

[hitchhiker]

I actually sent you a check! I loved QModem. Back in the day it was a great solution.

(looking over shoulder)

I feel like a dinosaur.

I loved QModem too!

Used it to DL a lot of things back in the days of BBS'ing!

Thank You again for a great contribution to the online world!